Dear Mom,

… Thanks for your most recent letter, I will take care of the Masses you mention.

The three of us got into Addis last night. We came straight through, leaving our place at five thirty yesterday morning. We went to one of the best eating places in town and had a good steak dinner. As you know, we cook for ourselves, so it was a real treat.

Bill Headley, whom you may remember was a classmate of mine, is our new provincial. He took over in August and is now visiting some of the places around the world where the American Holy Ghost Fathers work. His plane out of Nairobi has been held up but he should arrive here by one or two this afternoon. We were not able to get permission for him to go down to our place, but we will spend the next three days with him here, talking over our work among the Borara and discussing our plans for the future.

One of the things we’ll be talking about will be the two new men we expect to be getting during next year. One is a Dutchman who has been working in Tanzania (Morogoro Diocese) for some years. That area is pretty well built up with a Tanzanian bishop and a good number of African priests. He is looking for something a little more challenging, so will give it a try with us. The other is an Irishman who has been working in the city of Nairobi for some time. He writes that when he came to Africa, he didn’t expect to meet pretty much the same situation as he left in his home country; that is a regular parish situation. So he too is looking for something a little different. The coming of the Dutchman is sure for some time in the Spring, whereas the Irishman is still at the stage where he is looking into various possibilities, we being only one of these. At any rate things are much more settled and we are even thinking of opening a new place about sixty miles to the east of us in an area called Aarero.

Thank you very much for your most recent package, Mom. The two pairs of pants and the two shirts will really help out. Riding the bike in the bush all the time really tears up clothing. I try to be careful but even with mending and patching, clothes don’t last. It is good that you always write on the outside what the package contains – Vince just got three packages, which he himself sent when he was home; everything he had not written down on the outside was stolen. Nothing has ever been taken from one of your boxes…

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom,

… Iede is off to Addis this afternoon so I’ll be on my own for about ten days. He wants to see about school food, beans, corn, sugar, etc., since we hope to open the boarding school toward the end of September. It has been closed for over two years because of our having to leave at the time of the war with Somalia. Now the situation is very nearly back to normal, so we feel confident to begin again. We’ll be starting with only first grade as we did before and work up year by year. We had meetings with the elders in some of the different areas to give them the opportunity to register children, and if most of the ones come who have been written down, we’ll have plenty for the first grade. Our former teacher is now an administrator of one of the areas in Borana land, so we have a different one this time. He is a Borana from very near here, and it looks as if he is going to be very good.

The dry season is much more dry than usual here in the South. During the normal period of the long rains, we got almost nothing, and the short rains aren’t expected until November. The pond, which usually is an unfailing supply of water during the dry season, is just about dried up. So unless some unexpected rains come along, most of the cattle will have to move from here. The villages themselves will not move, but some of the younger people will go off to establish cattle camps where there is water to be found. Here, we will be able to supply water from the well for the two or three cows kept to supply milk for each house in the main villages. These people are very dependent on the conditions of the land and weather. Many people here are hungry and will be a lot more hungry before the rains finally come. And this because some months ago, it didn’t rain for as long as it should have and the ponds didn’t fill up.

Vince should be in Tanzania now and will perhaps be arriving in Addis Ababa next week. When he gets back, we’ll be discussing the opening of a new place to work out of. Our evangelization program is going well here in the center of Dadim, and since it doesn’t take three of us, we are thinking of starting in a second place. It would consist of just a place to live, perhaps a corrugated tin shack with a couple of rooms. Two will probably alternate spending time out of our main place here, carrying on the evangelization program as we have here and maybe doing some adult education also…

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom,

… We have worked out a new system to get out mail a little quicker. The most southern Italian mission is about one hundred miles north of us in a place called Erga Chafe. They are in very mountainous country among a farming people called the Daraza. The country is much like the Meru Mountain in Arusha, plenty of bananas and very fertile land. The Daraza live very close together; I’m sure that there is not five square feet of unused land in the whole country. This mission in Erga Chafe is the only one among these people and was only started a couple of years before we started among the Borana. For the mission and school work, there are two priests and a brother. Then three Canadians, two nurses and a social worker have started an out patient clinic and some health education. We have arranged to pick up our mail there once a month and have left two canvas bags with them for that purpose. They travel to Awassa fairly often and can pick up our mail there. People from Awassa in turn often go to Addis so it is easy to bring our mail as far as Awassa for them. Both the Italians at the mission and the girls have been down here to visit us and now that the road is open we are looking for more frequent visits from them. For the Borana to see unmarried men is really strange, but when three unmarried women came along, it was almost too much. They were trying to figure it out and asking questions about it for weeks afterwards.

As I wrote some time ago, we have started teaching in eight villages in the area right around us here in Dadim. The first step (we are fourteen weeks into this right now) is getting them used to having weekly prayer meetings with us. For this purpose we go to each village every week. The meetings center around their making of coffee and “eating” it, which is the way they have prayer meetings traditionally. The whole beans, outer cover and all, are fried in butter, then mixed with milk and passed around in wooden cups. They customarily have this coffee together with prayer at every occasion big and small. Anything from simply receiving a visitor to the installation of a new age set. Part of every occasion is always the coffee with appropriate prayers. Part of the meeting is always a story related to village or family life followed by a discussion. We are trying to use their own traditional stories and fables for these sessions. Because of this we are collecting these stories all the time.

These fables, stories, historical legends, songs and so forth are very interesting in themselves. After a while you begin to see themes and ideas, which keep recurring. For a people with no written literature, these are the things which must carry their philosophy of life, how people should act, what kind of ideals people should aim for, etc. I came across one recently that you might be interested in hearing. This was given to me in Borana in a kind of free verse form. It is the kind of thing the old men use when reaching the younger people about life, perhaps sitting around the fire at night or in the shade of an acacia tree of an afternoon.

This fire burning here
It is our custom to burn it
This house is made of grass
If a man stays in this place of the fire, it is good
If he refuses to stay here but goes away, it is destructive (this refers to people who leave Borana land to, for example, get a job up North).
It will destroy this house
The house will burn down
The thorn bush fence surrounding the village and cattle enclosure will also burn
If he does not stay but must go away, it is very bad
If he goes it is bad
If he stays it is good
This is the way fire destroys a home

Furthermore another evil thing
Is a man
Who has wealth
Who has milk
Who had butter
Who has meat
Who has coffee
But does not share
Who refuses to share anything of his own
Who eats alone and everything he has he himself consumes
This is a very bad man
Whom nothing of his reaches another person
Who “hates” everybody
This very selfish person who shares nothing
It does not matter if this man lives or dies

But there is another kind of man
A man who is good
If a man who is good has cattle, he shares
If he has food he shares
If he has clothing he shares
If he has money he shares
He gives milk to hungry people
He invites people in if he has coffee
The spirit of this man rests in God
Whether he lives or dies is in the hands of God
He is blessed

This is an example of the kind of thing we are taking from the traditions of the people and using in our discussions and prayer services with them. There is no limit to the wealth and richness of these traditions; it just takes a little patience and effort to dig it out…

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom,

………. I arrived back from Nomad Meeting in Kenya the middle of February, coming by road thru Moiyale. Was able to spend time at the Borana mission of Maimona, which is located between Marsibit and Lake Turkana (used to be called Lake Rudolf). They are doing much the same work which we are now about to begin.

I’m here in Addis to get my ID card back. When I left the country, I had to turn it in but we have to carry it at all times here in Ethiopia. Iede tried to get the card when he came up last week to see Vince off and do some shopping, but they said I must come in person. I arrived just a couple of hours ago. I plan to go to a movie tonight, pick up the ID card as soon as the offices open tomorrow and start back down south after lunch tomorrow.

We started to teach religion in the villages about a month ago. We’re holding prayer services that are integrated into their traditional coffee ceremony. I guess it’s like the Asian tea ceremony in its formality, but here the similarity ends. Having coffee together is the normal way the Borana have prayers as a village or family. We are writing quite a bit about these things and will get copies to you as we put them out. Iede wrote a newsletter about our initial meeting with all the elders of our area to explain this thing of going to them for prayer services. This initial meeting included the coffee ceremony.

Thanks a lot for the two boxes you sent – they arrived last week in good shape. I really appreciate everything you send. I seem to wear out stuff fast…

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom,

… Am in Addis to see about my papers for going to Nairobi at the end of the month. There is another meeting of people working with Nomads like the one a little over a year ago. I will be the only one going from among the three of us this time. Vince is preparing to go on leave in the Spring and Iede is now involved in reopening our school. We hope to get it started again the first part of February. Iede also will be going on leave later on in the year. My turn will come the following summer. I have no definite plans yet, but my leave will likely be the Summer of 1980. Thanks for sending the clothes – I look forward to getting them.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas…

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom,

…. One of the fathers from Arba Minch with five of the sisters from there have come this week to spend a few days with us. As you know Arba Minch is where the Irish Holy Ghost Father work. They are finding this area quite a contrast to their own places. They work among settled farming people where there are quite a lot of public services, etc. Here the isolation and the nomadic population present quite a contrast. Also the freedom with which the people spend time in our house, treating it much like one of their own (a lot like Kijungu, I guess) is quite a novelty to them.

Vince and I are still living in Borana villages; we are about 20 miles apart. I’m still involved in language learning. At this point I’m writing down folk tales and trying to get songs transcribed. As it was in Maasailand this is very difficult. In the stories and songs of various types is found the literature of the Borana. The poetry that is passed down from generation to generation, and therefore contains many archaic words and poetic expressions.

I’m also teaching the herd kids in the evening after milking time, mainly the three r’s. I have a few adults also who want to learn to read and write. I’m also doing the usual odds and ends of medicine.

We do our best to live much as the people do and most of all to take an interest in the same things they do. All this of course is aimed at making us less outsiders looking in and more insiders as far as the people are concerned …

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom,

….. Arrived here in Addis yesterday and found a letter from you waiting here for me. I’ll say those masses this week.

As you know, in March the situation in Yavelle started to look much better so Iede and I moved back. The Borana were still not moved back to their normal grazing areas, but the whole atmosphere was much better. I moved into a Borana village in March and continued my language and custom studies and also started a little reading and writing school in the evening for the boys and girls of the village who herd during the day.

Vince finished language school in June and also moved into a Borana village in another area. We live in Borana houses (woven sticks covered with grass – igloo shaped) built for us by the people. We are becoming integral parts (we feel) of our respective villages. My own has moved twice since I joined it (grass and water problems) so I’m beginning to feel like an authentic nomad. Beth Efus says that this living with the people much as they live, is by far the nicest thing that has happened to us so far in our lives as missionaries. The relationship is very different from that of going out from the mission to work with or visit the people.

Just in the past two weeks people have started moving back to our place at Dadim (one small village of five families so far). This means that within a short time many villages will make the move. They are hurting for grass where they are and our area hasn’t been grazed in a year and a half. Also unless there is major reversal in the trend toward peace and stability, our school will open by January – things are looking up ….

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom,

… As you see I’m back in Ethiopia – to stay I hope. I was in Loliondo till a couple of weeks ago and then hearing that the situation was clarifying here in Ethiopia, I came back last week.

Shifta activity has just about halted down South and things in general are much more stable. In fact the main road seems now to be open most of the way to the border.

We are off tomorrow, that is Iede and I, Vince in still in language school for Amharic until the first week of June. We hope we are going down now to stay – but as you no doubt gather from the news broadcasts and newspapers, long range planning here is not yet possible.

The packages came, all four of them and have been in Awassa for some time. I’ll pick them up when we pass through tomorrow – thank you very much for sending them. The three of us, together with an American sister, a Canadian girl volunteer and an American brother, all of whom work in Sidamo, spent the last few days at one of the Rift Valley lakes about one hundred miles to the south of Addis Ababa. It is quite a large lake and the fishing is quite good – catfish and tilapia, which is similar to our perch. We roasted a couple of pig legs one evening on the beach and another evening marshmallows – did a lot of swimming and laying on the beach – will write soon…

Love,

Ned

Dear Mom,

… Merry Christmas – as you see by the stamp, I’m now in Kenya and will be going off tomorrow to a Borana mission on the Northern Frontier – quite close to Yavello as a crow flies. If you look at your map of East Africa, look first at Moyale, which is right on the border – then a little to the left and you will see Sololo. This is where I will be working until it is feasible to go back to Yavello. The people are Borana so the language and all will be the same. Also it feels like coming home to be talking Swahili again, which is the Lingua Franco here in Kenya as it is in Tanzania. The missionaries up there are Verona – same as the ones we worked with in Ethiopia. I’ll write you about the place later on…

Merry Christmas to All

Love,

Ned